Opportunity to extend your degree to four years with a professional placement, a year studying abroad in English or a year studying abroad in a foreign language.

Why study Accounting and Finance at Bristol?

Bristol has a reputation for producing high-quality graduates with strong quantitative skills, giving rise to plenty of opportunities for those interested in careers in accounting or finance.

Our graduates are in great demand by employers and if you choose to continue into the accounting profession you will find that you are eligible for several exemptions from professional exams of the major accountancy bodies including ICAEW, ACCA and CIMA.

Our teaching staff offer a balance of leading researchers and qualified accountants, and your contact time will include lectures, small-group teaching and informal drop-in classes.

The facilities available to you include a state-of-the-art trading room equipped with Bloomberg terminals (used in major banks), allowing you to get hands-on experience that will enhance your skill set should you wish to pursue a career in finance.

The department is small enough to be friendly and offer strong student support, yet large enough to provide an international experience. We have a diverse international intake, as well as strong links with partner institutions in Europe, Australia, Korea and Singapore.

What kind of student would this course suit?

You will enjoy our accounting courses if you are interested in issues such as:

how financial information can support decision-making, for example how to choose between different projects or investments;

how financial markets operate;

how to value shares and other financial assets.

You will also enjoy studying with us if you like a balance of approaches in your learning. Our courses combine academic/theoretical study and technical/professional learning, allowing you to experience the practical side of studying accounting while benefiting from the rigours of an academic discipline.

How is this course taught and assessed?

We teach using a variety of methods. As well as standard lectures introducing new material to a large group of students, we run exercise lectures, which involve application of material, and small-group classes. Our small-group teaching is a distinctive aspect of our approach at Bristol, enabling valuable and effective interaction with a tutor and with peers.

You will prepare assignments during the year and receive feedback on them but they will not all count directly to your final mark for the course.

The assessments used to determine your score for each subject at the end of the semester predominantly take the form of examinations in January and in May/June, although there are some units where coursework will also count towards the final assessment.

What are my career prospects?

Our graduates have some of the best employment prospects in the UK; 90 per cent find graduate-level jobs or undertake further study within six months of graduation.

Of recent graduates entering employment just over half chose the accounting and management consultancy sectors with employers including Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. A sizeable proportion chose to pursue other careers in the financial services industry with employers including Morgan Stanley and UBS. Others chose from a variety of graduate training schemes in the private, public and not-for profit sectors, or opted for further study.

Disclaimer

Every day my inbox is flooded with opportunities – internships, research projects, extra-curricular activities – all of which are the University getting students involved. The University is constantly updating its facilities, which reinforces its friendly and inclusive environment.